Shepherding Program

Northern Lakes Community Church launched a program in 2008 called the Shepherding Program. Its purpose is to improve the connections each member and family has with the whole congregation.

Elders and deacons have been assigned a short list of NLCC households. They will make monthly contacts with each. These contacts could take the form of a conversation at church, a telephone call, a meal together, a chance meeting at a store, or any of a list of encounters. The purpose of these contacts will not be to check up on people, nor will it be to promote the church, nor will it be to ask you to volunteer to do anything.

The purpose of the Shepherd Program contacts is, in one word, to listen. This means that once a month a leader in this congregation will contact you. He or she will ask how you are doing, and whether do you have any needs or any concerns about the church. You can say as much or as little as you like. Anything you choose to say will be kept in the strictest confidence. The Shepherd (elder or deacon) who contacts you will not tell anybody anything without your express permission.

We want to strengthen the ties that connect us to each other and to Jesus Christ. The fellowship of the church can be a powerful blessing, but only if we maintain that fellowship. The church leadership fully supports this new ministry. We have high hopes that it will indeed bring us closer to each other, and to our God.